English Language Arts​EL Education Curriculum

Module 1:​Building Literacy in a Collaborative Classroom: Toys and Play

In this module, students build their literacy and citizenship skills as they engage in a study of toys and play. In Unit 1, students consider norms and behaviors for sharing toys and interacting with peers through structured conversations, learning experiences such as role-play and guided discovery of toys, and an analysis of the text Llama Llama Time to Share by Anna Dewdney.In Unit 2, students learn more about toys as they consider what makes something a toy and what makes toys fun. They learn to sort and describe toys by specific attributes. They also begin to think about perspective as they discuss and write about their own toy preferences, using language and ideas from the text Toys Galore by Peter Stein.In Unit 3, students deepen their understanding of perspective as they read the text Have Fun, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell. Students also learn about toys from a historical perspective using the text Playing with Friends: Comparing Past and Present by Rebecca Rissman. As a culmination of the unit, students interview a classmate about his or her preferred classroom toy. They use the information from the interview to create their performance task: an informational piece of writing and drawing about their classmate's preferred toy and how the classmate likes to play with it. This performance task centers on CCSS ELA W.K.2, W.K.8, L.K.2c, and L.K.2d.

Module 2:Learning through Science and Story: Weather Wonders

In this module, students build their literacy and science skills as they engage in a study of the weather. The module begins with a story about a young girl named Sofia who is curious about the weather. Sofia wants to learn more about how she can be prepared for any type of weather, and she asks the kindergarten students to help her in this quest. In Unit 1, students study the science of weather through various informational texts. They create a class weather journal and track their individual learning in a meteorologist's notebook.In Unit 2, students broaden their study as they think about how weather affects people in different places around the world and characters in a variety of narrative texts. Students engage in close read-alouds of: On the Same Day in March: A Tour of the World's Weather by Marilyn Singer andCome on, Rain! by Karen Hesse. Students also read and retell several narrative texts about the experiences of children in different types of weather, including Brave Irene by William Steig, Umbrella by Taro Yashima, and One Hot Summer Day by Nina Crews. Students continue to observe the local weather as they write daily entries in individual weather journals.In Unit 3, students listen toThe Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats read aloud and continue to think about how the weather affects the choices people make about what to wear and what to do each day. They then use this book as a mentor text for their performance task, in which they plan and write an imaginary narrative about how the weather on a particular day affected what a person wore and did. They revise, edit, and practice reading their original narratives in preparation for sharing them with families and friends at an end of module Weather Expo. This performance task centers on CCSS ELA W.K.3, W.K.5, L.K.1a, L.K.2a, L.K.2c, L.K.2dL.K.6.

Module 3:Researching to Build Knowledge and Teach Others:Trees are Alive

In this module, students, explore the big ideas that all living things in the natural world have needs in order to survive and grow and that, through observation, we can discern patterns in the ways that living things meet their needs. Through a close study of trees and the living things that depend on them, students take on the roles of researcher and scientist to make observations of the natural world. From those observations, they determine patterns that explain how living things live and grow.In Unit 1, students learn what makes something living or nonliving, about different types of living things, and the common needs of all living things. They develop this understanding through research reading of the text What's Alive. Students also plan and conduct investigations (during module lessons and Labs) such as closely viewing various living things, caring for seedlings and observing what happens over time, and recording their observations in a Living Things research notebook.In Unit 2, students focus on the needs of animals as living things and how trees help to meet those needs. Through a close study of the text Be a Friend to Trees, students engage in whole group and small group research on how trees provide food for animals.In Unit 3, students build on their understanding of the needs of living things and further develop their research skills by researching a specific tree in small groups. During their small group research, students learns about the tree, its needs, and how it supports other living things' need for food. This learning culminates in a series of Science Talks designed for them to share their research findings. They then use their learning to create an informational tree collage, which includes a collage, informative writing, and an animal puppet. They revise their writing and collage and practice presenting their work in preparation for sharing it with families and friends at the end of module celebration. This performance task centers on CCSS ELA W.K.2, W.K.5, W.K.8 and the NGSS Standard K-LS1-1

Module 4:​Contributing to Community: Enjoying and Appreciating Trees

In this module, students continue to build on their scientific knowledge of trees from Module 3 by exploring the importance of trees to people and their communities. Students learn how different people, both real and imaginary, enjoy and appreciate trees, and they consider how real people and characters have used trees to fill a need in their community. In Unit 1, students learn about the different ways people enjoy trees through reading and analyzing the texts A Tree for Emmy by Mary Ann Rodman and Oliver's Tree by Kit Chase and considering how the characters in these texts enjoy and appreciate trees. They write about the different ways trees can be enjoyed in their Enjoying Trees Journal, Part I.In Unit 2, students read about the ways planting trees can contribute to a community. By studying the informational text A Tree Is Nice by Janice May Udry, they learn to name an author's opinion or point and identify the reasons, within a text, that the author gives to support that point. They read Mama Miti: WangariMaathai and the Trees of Kenya by Donna Jo Napoli and explore different places in a community where trees might be planted through observation of pictures in order to continue gathering information about why and where people plant trees. They then use these skills and information to form and write opinions about where they would choose to plant a tree.In Unit 3, students deepen their understanding of the importance of trees as they read We Planted a Tree by Diane Muldrow. Students apply their new knowledge of the importance of trees to people by advocating for the appreciation of trees in their own community. Students use information and skills gained throughout all three units to create their performance task: a Tree Appreciation card, including an opinion statement, that invites others to pause and appreciate trees around them (W.K.1, W.K.5, W.K.6, W.K.8, L.K.2a, L.K.2b).